ORINO, 25 May 2007- The Oval Lingotto in the centre of Torino finally showed all its beauty during the opening day of the FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Italy.
After a very hot afternoon, Saturday evening and night were a little bit wet and cold, but nothing could prevent the two fastest Supermoto riders of the day from clocking the pole.
Thierry Van Den Bosch was the fastest in the S1 class, as Gerald Delepine clocked the quickest lap in the S2.
In the European series, Frenchman Baptiste Rheims was the fastest S3 racer, while Petr Vorlicek owned the Open class thanks to a flying lap.
S1
Aprilia Off Road’s riders Thierry Van Den Bosch and Jerome Giraudo fought for pole since they first entered the 1200 metre track, but it was countryman Adrien Chareyre of CH Husqvarna snatching the pole at half session distance.
The one minute barrier was still a solid rock, but VDB made to break it with one minute to go. No one else was able to get closer to the defending Champion, who was the only man on track lapping faster than one minute.
Adrien Chareyre tried his best and finished second, keeping a very solid Ivan Lazzarini of Yamaha Evolution behind in third.
Lazza was also the fastest home rider, followed by Jerome Giraudo in fourth, closing the front row. Thomas Chareyre of CH Husqvarna was dramatically close to Giraudo, but finished fifth fastest ahead of TM factory’s Fabio Balducci.
2005 World Champion Boris Chambon was seventh fastest, while last year’s S2 World Champion Bernd Hiemer rounded off the top ten.
S2
When the session started, Luca Minutilli of H2O Racing stormed into the track and clocked the provisional pole, but it was not going to last.
A very fast Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio was quick to snatch the pole from countryman Minutilli, as Pignotti aims at increasing his lead in the Championship.
CH Husqvarna’s Gerald Delepine broke the Italian’s record, but an impressive Nestor Jorge squeezed his BQR Spain Aprilia to clock a faster lap than Delepine’s one.
The time sheets looked all settled for just a bit, then Delepine, Christian Iddon of Aprilia Off Road and Pignotti started a personal challenge for pole that took the crowd’s breath away.
Delepine improved his previous lap to a very fast 1:00.662, leaving Pignotti behind in second by less than two tenths of a second. Iddon made it to third, with Husaberg WP Ipa’s Robert Baraccani completing the front row.
Max Verderosa will open the second row, and looked ready for a solid race on Saturday, but a very dangerous Davide Gozzini will start right next to him. Marcel Goetz rounded off the top ten, as KTM fellow rider Ales Hlad was 14th fastest.
Debutant Elia Sammartin was 19th fastest, less than two seconds off the pole.
UEM-EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP
Baptiste Rheims was the fastest of the S3 riders, and will open the front row tomorrow, in the second race of the UEM European Supermoto Championship. But Italian Tommaso Iacoboni was dramatically close –the gap was just 12 thousandths of a second- and he will surely give chase tomorrow. Fabio Lavetti was seven tenths off the pole, but made it to the front row, which finished with TM mounted Francesco Bianconi. Brit Chris Hodgson was fifth fastest.
There was all Petr Vorlicek’s experience in today’s pole, and the Championship leader looked all set on his second victory of the season. Austrian Heino Meusburger will start next to him tomorrow, but being also next to Slovenian Uros Nastran –third- will make it a very hot start for Heino. Beat Erne will complete the front row, as Luca De Angelis will open the second row from fifth place.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
The first night time Supermoto Grand Prix will begin tomorrow –Saturday May 26- with the opening moto of the S2 class at 4.55 pm. The S1 class will start at 7.55 pm, whereas the European Championship will begin at 2.55 pm with the Open class.
The FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Italy will be broadcast live on Saturday, May 26, on:
* Eurosport 2 : LIVE S1 Race2 from 22.30 to 23.30 CET
* AB Moteurs : LIVE S2 Race 2 from 21.30 to 22.30 CET, and S1 Race 2 from 22.30 to 23.30 CET
* Sport Italia: LIVE S2 Race 2 from 21.30 to 22:30, and S1 Race 2 from 22.30 to 23.30
* ART : LIVE S1 Race 2 from 22.30 to 23.30 CET
* EUROSPORT WORLD : LIVE S1 Race2 from 22.30 to 23.30 CET
* MEDIAZONE: LIVE S2 Race 2 from 21.30 to 22.30 CET, and S1 Race 2 from 22.30 to 23.30 CET
Information and results on http://www.SuperMotoS1.com, the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.
Fans worldwide can watch this and every race of the 2007 FIM Motocross & SuperMoto World Championships live and on-demand exclusively on The Moto Channel on MediaZone (moto.MediaZone.com). MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specialized in sports, entertainment and international programming.
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